Hike 36 - Escarpment/Lake of the Clouds

November 29, 2020 by Elizabeth Davis

Awe, the last week before school starts. We tend to use this time to get away one last time before getting back to the school schedule. This year was a little different as we wanted to be as careful as possible with the spread of COVID-19. We tried to make minimal stops as we drove from MN to MI and then we stayed at a campsite, and while they were mostly full, everyone seemed to be keeping their space. Michigan also had a lot of restrictions/instructions in place. Basically, there were a lot more people wearing masks in MI than in WI - probably because they had to.

At any rate, we had big hopes of hiking a lot while on our 4 day get away. Unfortunately, after a week of migraines and then 3 days of horrible sleep, I was dragging badly. So much so that Jesse and Riley went on a hike while I took a nap. But, I did go to Lake of the Clouds with them. You can park in the lot and take a short trek to a beautiful view, or you can continue on to various trails of different length. We headed down the Escarpment trail and walked until we were tired enough, but not to tired to make our way may and up hill.

Hike #: 36

Trail: Parts of Lake of the Clouds and the Escarpment trail

Location: Ontonagon, MI

Trail surface: earth

Date: 9/30/20

I’m a big fan of the trails around the North Shore and Lake Superior of MN, but I have to say that I think I like the Upper Pinninsula of MI better. I’ve heard wonderful things about this area of MI and I’ve always wanted to visit so I’m glad it happened, even if it was brief and I sprained my ankle on the last full day of our trip. I can’t wait to go back and explore more.

Jo: ★★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

Hike 35 - Lake Minnewashta

November 29, 2020 by Elizabeth Davis

Ahh, after a month of hot weather, August finally gave us some cooler days. The mornings feel a little crisp which reminds me that fall is on the way. It also gets us back out on the trails. This time I narrowed down our trail options because we wanted to check out Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Garden after our hike. We headed to Lake Minnewashta and stayed mostly on the Lake trail for a 2.2 mile loop. There are many trails in this park so you could probably make this a 5 - 6 mile hike if you wanted to.

Along the start of the trail were signs along the path that told the story of 3 little owls. Some of them were a little beat up from the rain, but it was still fun to keep walking to see what happened in the story and it certainly kept Riley entertained.

Hike #: 35

Trail: Lake Minnewashta

Location: Chanhassen, MN

Trail surface: paved, nature

Date: August 2nd, 2020

This park was well maintained and wasn’t too crowded. In the middle of our walk, we came to a beach with a little library and I can imagine it was once packed pre-COVID, but we only saw one person there.

We all agreed that we’d come back here and look forward to exploring the other trails nearby.

Jo: ★★★★

Jesse: ★★★★

Riley: ★★★★

Hike 34 - Crosby Lake Loop

July 10, 2020 by Elizabeth Davis

On the first day of summer, we tried to get out the door somewhat early before it got to hot to hike. We were sort of successful, but the bugs were out in full force and so the 3.5 mile hike I had planned became 2 miles. Even with bugspray this trail was annoying, but I would love to go back when the bugs are less of an issue as this was a nice trail.

Crosby Lake trail has multiple trail options which is what allowed us to shorten our hike quite a bit, but would also allow someone to change up this hike each time you went. Besides the bugs and humidity, I enjoyed that the trails we highly shaded and a dirt or grass base. Jesse loves earth trails, but noted that the wide mowed trail reminded him of a horse trail so he took points away for that. Picky, picky.